Astra closers to the fore!

Hundreds of Astra 3000 Series door closers have helped make newly refurbished homes in London’s Enfield safe and practical for tenants. New flat entrance doors, supplied by PDS Ltd are part of a major facelift and improvements at Fore Street Estate in Edmonton by ALMO Enfield Homes. The closers were selected for their ability to close these fire-rated doors efficiently while at the same time being unobtrusive, hard wearing and reliable. In addition, there is a closer in the 3000 Series for any size of door – no matter how narrow – making the doors eminently usable for tenants, no matter how able.

The upgrade of the flats on the Fore Street Estate has included the installation of new gas boilers, double glazed windows, and a new insulated roof and walls. Enfield Homes also took the opportunity to re-decorate the block internally and externally, including fitting Secured by Design Accredited flat entrance doors from PDS featuring the Astra 3000 Series concealed closers.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO) came into force in October 2006 and brought the common parts of blocks of flats within the scope of mainstream fire safety legislation for the first time. Since flat entrance doors are critical to the safety of the common parts in the event of a fire within a flat, the FSO requires them to be fire-resisting and self-closing.

The 3000 series of concealed door closers from Astra is manufactured in the UK, in four different power sizes with adjustable closing speed and latching action for different size and weights of doors. In the case of the Fore Street Estate, 3001 (Size 1) and 3002 (size 2) Astra closers were specified to give the perfect combination of ease of use by residents with reliable closing and latching on narrow entrance doors where a Size 3 closer would have made the door too “heavy” and unusable by tenants.

“There are lots of reasons why we chose the Astra 300 series concealed closers on this project,” says Paul Goggins from PDS. “First of all they need to close the door efficiently but in a controlled manner which the Astra closers do reliably, every time. Astra concealed closers are much more discrete than overhead closers which can look rather institutional. As an extra bonus, these Series 3000 closers can’t be tampered with so they remain safe in use.”

PDS offers the unique service of factory prepping the door to accept the Astra closer on site. “This saves time and hassle for the contractor and means that the closers are fitted right first time every time,” says Paul Goggins.

The Astra closer have distinct space saving advantages over overhead closers too. “It is often the case with entrance doors to flats, that they cannot open much beyond 90 degrees, making it impractical to fit an overhead closer to the inside. Because Astra’s closers are tucked on the hinge edge, they take up no additional space,” says Paul Goggins.

The quality design and build of the Astra 3000 Series closers makes them perfect for applications like this Enfield House project. Unlike other concealed closers on the market, the Astra 3000 series is fully controlled and adjustable, making it a really viable alternative to overhead products at a sensible price. This adjustability helps specifiers to achieve doors which comply with the Equality Act 2010, Building Regs and PAS 24 for entrance doors and the RRO for fire doors.

Astra is well known for its door closer range including the popular Gibraltar range. The Lancashire-based company can demonstrate many years experience in the sector and carries out all of its own R&D in-house. It exports its British door closers all across the globe via a network of distributors and partner companies. www.astradoorcontrols.comTel: 01772 796901